In terms of the size of the army, although the current financial situation of the Han court can be said to be beyond its means, in order to pacify the chaos and thieves in the world, the Son of Heaven did not stingy with a stroke of the pen and set the establishment of eight captains. These eight lieutenants are the Captain of the Upper Army, the Captain of the Middle Army, the Captain of the Lower Army, the Captain of the Dian Army, the Left Captain of the Auxiliary Army, the Right Captain of the Auxiliary Army, the Left Captain of the Army, and the Right Captain.

The courtiers had no opinion on the name of the captain, anyway, even if they called out the flowers, it was actually the same thing. The only thing that the court magnates paid attention to was the people appointed to these positions.

In order to push his own sons and nephews to the position of "Eighth Captain of the West Garden", several major forces in the court launched an extremely fierce but hidden competition.

In this competition, the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty undoubtedly has the final decision. So, on the basis of considering the maintenance of the balance of power in the court, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, added hundreds of millions of five baht of wealth to his "Wanjin Hall" by the way, and only then did he announce the candidates for each lieutenant in early September.

I have to say that today is actually a very smart person. After twenty years of training on the throne, Liu Hong, the son of heaven, already has enough political skills to control the court. The list of his appointments was both expected and somewhat unexpected.

The eight lieutenants of the West Park are:

Captain of the Upper Military Colonel - Little Yellow Gate. Jian Shuo,

Lieutenant of the Chinese Military Cadet - General Hu Ben Zhonglang. YUAN Shao,

Lieutenant of the Lower Military Cadet - Captain of the Tun Cavalry. Bao Hong,

Lieutenant of the Military Academy. Cao Cao,

Lieutenant Zuo of the Auxiliary Army - Zhao Rong,

Lieutenant Feng Fang,

Captain Zuo -- Counseling Doctor. XIA Mou,

Right Lieutenant - Chun Yuqiong.

Finally, the Son of Heaven has a special note. It was stipulated that all the captains should be placed under the command of Xiao Huangmen. Xiao Huangmen Jian Shuo was in charge of all armies, and he was directly ordered by the emperor. In this way, among the armies of Luoyang, the army directly controlled by the Son of Heaven has an absolute advantage.

Well, in this list of appointments. What are the sayings?

Officials who are familiar with the government can see at a glance that this list is the biggest target. That's it:

General, He Jin.

The position of general is one of the highest official positions in the current imperial court, ranking above the "three dukes" of Taiwei, Sikong, and Situ. His power is far beyond the right of the prime minister."

In short, a general is equivalent to a prime minister who is in charge of the military power of the world. So much so that in the history of the Han Dynasty, there were several great generals who once decided the ownership of the Son of Heaven.

However, among the eight captains in Xiyuan, there was only one person who belonged to the faction of General He Jin, who was formerly the captain of the Tun cavalry.

The rest, such as Yuan Shao, belong to the Yuan family of Runan. Cao Cao is from the lineage of Cao Song, a former eunuch, and Feng Fang is the son-in-law of the late eunuch Cao Jie. Zhao Rong and Xia Mu are both protégés of Hongnong Yang, and Chun Yuqiong is also a party member who took refuge in Yuan Shao.

As for Jian Shuo, who has been given the power to control the remaining seven captains, he is the most trusted eunuch under the Son of Heaven at present.

Due to Jian Shuo's moderation of the eighth lieutenant of Xiyuan, the military power in the hands of General He Jin shrank by more than half at once. Moreover, according to the title of "marshal" that the Son of Heaven later added to Jian Shuo. Even He Jin himself is under Jian Shuo's supervision. Such a situation has had a huge impact on He Jin, who has been in a smooth sail since the first year of Zhongping [184].

So. Liu Hong, the Son of Heaven, who was originally close to He Jin, why did he start restricting the general He Jin again?

He Jin himself, of course, knows this.

He Jin is a tall character, born in Wancheng, a big city in Nanyang, and has produced small officials below 600 stone for generations. Such a life experience is nothing in Nanyang County, where there are many high-ranking officials.

However, although the ancestors of the He family did not have much success in their careers, they accumulated huge wealth in industry and commerce. Eighty percent of the meat in the entire Wancheng is provided by He's butcher shop. These commercial activities are the reason why He Jin was repeatedly called a "butcher" by other people in the world.

When He Jin was young, he had traveled abroad for many years to study Confucian scriptures, and he was quite accomplished. Helplessly, the He family to which he belonged, although he was rich, his status was not enough, and he was still counted among the poor. Therefore, before He Jin's half-sister was elected to the palace and became a nobleman, he never got the quota of "filial piety" in the local area.

However, when He Gui gave birth to the prince Liu Wei, He Jin finally came to work. In just over ten years, he was first worshiped as Langzhong, and then moved to Huben as a general, and also served as the Taishou of Yingchuan. In these positions, He Jin has performed quite well.

In the third year of Guanghe [180], He Guiren was established as the queen, and He Jin was also worshiped as a servant, and within a year he became a master craftsman, and was later promoted to Henan Yin. The Yellow Turban Rebellion that broke out in the first year of Zhongping [184] made He Jin worship as a general, and since then he has become one of the most powerful figures in the imperial court.

However, for He Jin's career, it can be described as "the queen who succeeds, and the queen who loses".

When the Son of Heaven favored Queen He, for the sake of He Jin's diligence and discipline, and because the He family was not a wealthy family, he vigorously promoted He Jin, thinking that he was a descendant of the Son of Heaven.

However, when Empress He poisoned Wang Meiren, who was also favored by the Son of Heaven, in order to stabilize her throne, it immediately caused the anger of Liu Hong, the Son of Heaven. The angry Son of Heaven not only immediately sent the son of Wang Meiren, the prince Liu Xie, to his mother, the Empress Dowager Dong, to raise him, so as to prevent Queen He from being poisoned again, but also wanted to directly abolish Queen He's position as queen.

Poor He Jin, although he wanted to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, he had to bite the bullet and ask for help everywhere in order to keep his sister's status as the queen. Fortunately, at that time, the "Ten Standing Servants" and the He family were still close allies, and they tried their best to dissuade the anger of the Son of Heaven on the grounds that each person gave 10 million money, which allowed Empress He's position to be guaranteed.

After this incident, on the surface, the Son of Heaven did not continue to investigate. But as long as the prince Liu Xie is still there, this matter is a thorn between the Son of Heaven and the He family, a thorn in the heart.

Now, seeing the personnel setting of the eighth lieutenant of the West Garden, He Jin understands that this thorn is now attacking.

According to the news from the palace of the "Ten Standing Attendants", the Son of Heaven thought that the prince Liu Wei was too weak and did not look like a qualified emperor, and he had the idea of abolishing the elder and the young. And if you want to establish the prince Liu Xie as the next son of heaven, the biggest obstacle is the general He Jin.

He Jin does not collapse, and Liu Xie does not stand. This truth, for people who are familiar with the affairs of the Han Palace, even if they think with their little toes, everyone can understand.

Clearly, in the face of this situation, He Jin is difficult to deal with.

One of the big reasons why the Son of Heaven appointed He Jin as a general is that He Jin came from a humble background and did not have any strong support behind him, so it was relatively easy to control. At the same time, it was also the Son of Heaven who felt that the "Ten Standing Servants" were a bit too involved in the court, which aroused the disgust of many neutral courtiers, and wanted He Jin to be a buffer in the middle.

As a result, He Jin's power has expanded rapidly in the past few years and he has become an important minister in the imperial court. However, since He Jin relied on the favor of the Son of Heaven to come to power, if the Son of Heaven decided to suppress He Jin, He Jin would also lack a powerful counterattack.

Of course, the Son of Heaven can't suppress the general for no reason. But all the important ministers in the court will not let the Son of Heaven act recklessly. Otherwise, wouldn't the entire court be messed up immediately?

It's just that He Jin, who has some understanding of the Son of Heaven's tactics, naturally knows that if he can't find a powerful ally, it will only take a few years, and the position of the great general will definitely not be kept.

But which side should be chosen as allies?

The former allies of the eunuch family are no longer possible.

In recent years, He Jin's power has expanded too quickly, and the contradictions with the eunuch family have become increasingly intense. Moreover, taking history as a reference, between relatives and eunuchs, there has always been one thing to lose, and even to fight to the death.

Eunuchs are unreliable, and He Jin fully understands this.

You must know that the authority of the eunuch family and the family of relatives is the same, and they all come from the favor of the Son of Heaven. And the favor of the Son of Heaven is always light and heavy, in order to compete for the favor of the Son of Heaven, even the ten permanent servants have trouble from time to time to the point of life and death, not to mention between eunuchs and relatives?

So, what about the partymen?

In order to win over the party, He Jin has actually done enough. However, don't look at the fact that many of the party members were in the He Jin shogunate, but they didn't look down on He Jin's background at all. Among them, the most obvious example is Wang Qian, the chief of the shogunate.

Wang Qian's father, Wang Chang, is one of the "Eight Jun" respected by the party. This Wang Qian later gave birth to a son, who is a famous man of the Three Kingdoms, Wang Cang, one of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", which can be said to be a family of "generations of famous people".

He Jin attaches great importance to his long history. In order to get closer to him, He Jin proposed that the two become in-laws. As a result, Wang Qian actually disagreed, and later simply resigned from the position of the shogunate chief, saying that he was sick and went home.

With such an encounter, can He Jin still dare to trust the support of the party?

In the end, there was only one person left who He Jin could form an alliance with.

The bureaucratic families that have always maintained neutrality in the court struggle, the Hongnong Yang clan or the Runan Yuan clan.

The neutrality of the Hongnong Yang clan and the Runan Yuan clan is not absolute neutrality, but a purposeful attempt to allow the opposing sides to maintain a considerable balance of strength in the court to ensure the stability of the court.

If the forces of one side suddenly lose the power to resist the other, these neutral bureaucratic families will immediately turn into the most greedy "gluttony" and pounce on them, devouring the losing side cleanly. Then, they will secretly connive at the Son of Heaven to make a move, support a new series of forces, and let the court once again maintain the basic balance.

Originally, with the nature of these neutral bureaucratic families, it was difficult for He Jin to help them. However, in the Yuan clan in Runan, there was an outlier named Yuan Shao. (To be continued......)

PS: It's really not appropriate to go out on Christmas Eve. I went out for a ride with my wife and son, and I only had one feeling: there were so many people......